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Cherry Blossom Report 2011
Official cherry blossom reports by japan-guide.com

This year's cherry blossom season will be overshadowed by the tremendous loss caused by the recent earthquake. However, we believe that the blossoms will serve as symbols of hope and resilience and a source of motivation along Japan's road to recovery. With this in mind, we never hesitated to go ahead with our annual reports in order to inform travelers in Japan and readers across the world about this year's cherry blossom season.

2011 Cherry Blossom Forecast - Schedule of upcoming reports - Post your own report
Popular cherry blossom spots - How to do hanami? - Cherry tree varieties

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2011/04/07 - Hiroshima Report
by scott

Today I headed out to check on the cherry blossoms in Hiroshima and Miyajima, after which I made a quick afternoon visit to Iwakuni (a separate report can be found here). However, before reading these you may want to check out this excellent cherry blossom report trip by community member AlexRowan who visited Miyajima on April 3, 2011. Thanks for the great report Alex!

Hiroshima Peace Park
April 7, 2011 - full bloom

My first stop of the day was a quick visit to the Hiroshima Peace Park, where there are a few hundred cherry trees planted throughout the grounds. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom today and were particularly nice along the riverbanks that form the edges of the park. I would expect the blossoms to continue to be at their best for through the weekend.

Miyajima - Itsukushima Shrine
April 6, 2011 - approaching full bloom (50-80%)

Next I took a quick ferry ride from the Hiroshima Peace Park to Miyajima, an island less than an hour from central Hiroshima. Miyajima is home to Itsukushima Shrine, which is known as a "floating shrine" as it is built on stilts and appears to float during high tide. The shrine has a huge vermillion torii gate set out in the water that one of Japan's iconic images.

There are about 1500 cherry trees planted around the shrine, and while there are a number of early blooming weeping cherry trees that have reached full bloom, the somei yoshino trees are not quite there yet and will need another day or two to fully open.

Miyajima - Tahoto Pagoda
April 6, 2011 - full bloom

The Tahoto Pagoda is a small, two story pagoda located on the hill overlooking Itsukushima Shrine. It can be reached by a few of the different walking trails that criss cross the slopes of Mount Misen.

There are about 300 cherry trees planted around the pagoda as well as in a small park on the slope next door. The blossoms are a little bit ahead of the ones found around the shrine below and have reached full bloom. Some of the trees are just beginning to drop a few petals when disturbed by the wind, so I wouldn't expect the area to remain at its best for more than a few more days.

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List of Posts:
2011/05/09 - Sapporo Report
2011/05/06 - Hakodate Report
2011/05/02 - Kakunodate Report
2011/05/01 - Hirosaki Report
2011/04/29 - Kitakami Report
2011/04/22 - Aizu Report
2011/04/21 - Sendai Report
2011/04/20 - Fujigoko Report
2011/04/19 - Tokyo Report
2011/04/16 - Kyoto Report
2011/04/15 - Osaka Report
2011/04/14 - Tokyo Report
2011/04/14 - Kanazawa Report
2011/04/13 - Yoshino Report
2011/04/12 - Kyoto Report
2011/04/12 - Okayama Report
2011/04/11 - Tokyo Report
2011/04/11 - Takamatsu Report
2011/04/10 - Osaka Report
2011/04/10 - Matsuyama Report
2011/04/09 - Kyoto Report
2011/04/08 - Tokyo Report
2011/04/08 - Yoshino Report
2011/04/07 - Hiroshima Report
2011/04/07 - Iwakuni Report
2011/04/07 - Nagoya Report
2011/04/06 - Kyoto Report
2011/04/05 - Tokyo Report
2011/04/04 - Kyoto Report
2011/04/03 - Fukuoka Report
2011/04/02 - Tokyo Report
2011/04/01 - Kyoto Report
2011/04/01 - Kagoshima Report
2011/03/31 - Kumamoto Report
2011/03/31 - Fukuoka Report
2011/03/30 - Tokyo Report
2011/03/30 - Kochi Report
2011/03/29 - Kyoto Report
2011/03/28 - Himeji Report
2011/03/27 - Tokyo Report